31

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186 AC

Harrenhal

Aerion Targaryen

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After a month of no incidents, I can assume whatever the Children of the forests did to curse this place is over. I am still not sure other than maybe fear of the dragons but they kind of gave in easily and I appreciate that. I know it has helped the servants as there is less fog and the almost spooky vibe the castle had almost disappeared overnight and they are more comfortable. It was like working in a haunted house before and now it's just a slightly burned-down house that we are all living in.

"How do you like this?" Narha holds up a dress made of fine silks and looks masterfully crafted.

"It's good, this is made by one of the girls you have been training?" She nods with a proud smile and she holds up another I also nod at. "Seems they are getting the hang of it, once enough are made I will have them sold off in bulk. Your higher-end pieces will be stored until there are enough to do an auction for them of course." Helping her help herself while also filling my own pockets is always nice.

"I need some more pearls and I would not mind more Shimmering silk from Naath if we can get some." I nod and write it down to give to my network to put out their feelers, the pearls are easy but the silk is rare.

Slavers and Pirates raid the shores of Naath making their trade network almost nonexistent. The Velaryons have been helping me with a long voyage I am funding to Yi Ti but I wonder if they can stop by Naath. It is supposed to have a killer disease but if they are careful and avoid the butterfly they should be fine.

"Just write things you need down and give me the list, and I will see what I can do. I like the progress so far, I won't lie I doubted the plan but you have some skills at teaching it seems." She preens and puffs her chest out like a peacock.

"I wouldn't offer to do it if I couldn't do it, I am not stupid Aerion." Her words are bitter but the tone they are spoken with shows her happiness at being praised.

It is a dangerous thing really, my half siblings all seem to have a deep underlying 'need' to be accepted. Being bastards and also being ignored for the most part by their father has left them trying to fill the gaps on their own. I could care less about a father as I already did the whole growing-up thing before this, but they did not have that luxury.

"I never said you are stupid, I just never have seen you teach someone a craft such as dressmaking. If you teach enough people to do simple things and make simple items I can start a serious market for your goods. There has to be enough to spread around and get your name out there but space is not something I am lacking and you can hire as many people as you are willing to deal with. Eventually, people will know your name is associated with nice clothes, Ladies will come to be fitted and get custom orders." A new concept of a brand, 'Otherys clothes brand' could attract a good bit of attention.

If I have my network spread word of mouth to the high end of society people will make occasional trips to Harrenhal to get fitted in custom clothes for a premium price. That is where the real money would be at, the bulk stuff going out would just be attention grabbers.

"I see, well I will head back and plan some stuff out and see what I want to do." I nod and she turns around with her dresses under her arm.

The door opens before she can get to it, Ser Richard peeks his head in and I nod at him.

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"So they did not come out to eat this morning?" I ask as I walk to the Godswood with one of the in-training dragon keepers.

The new order of dragon keepers is mainly guards tasked with keeping people away from where the dragons sleep. They also are the ones that feed them and make sure no one is trying to do anything to their food to kill them. None of them have been burned yet so I will call it a success so far.

"That is right my Prince, neither of them came out last night or this morning and I wanted to let you know. I did not mean to disrupt your work but I also didn't want something to be wrong and not tell you until it was too late." I nod as he tries to worm his way out of any perceived responsibility.

"Good man, just take a break for now I will head to them and see what is wrong with them." He nods and splits off from me at the entrance to the Godswood.

Twenty acres of walled-off forest with a massive Weirwood with an ugly and angry face carved onto it, though it slowly seems to be 'calming'. The face is no longer twisted in anger and wide-mouthed and is slowly changing to look neutral. The marks carved into the tree during the battle over the god's eye by Daemon Targaryen and Aemond Targaryen still leak sap apparently in the right season.

I head away from the tree and toward a massive hill, the dragons have tunneled into with lots of trees growing around the entrance they dug. It almost reminds me of a hobbit hole if hobbits were the size of giants and melted stone. A surprising amount of heat is wafting out of the entrance as I approach.

""You two in here?!"" I shout as I start walking down the straight tunnel into the small little room they dug.

For creatures that love to fly they sure do love to dig, it reminds me of the Fire Wyrm in Valyria I have read about. They grow massive, even bigger than the dragons, and they breathe flames and dig tunnels.

A low rumble fills the room as I get to the bottom and see them huddled up with their bodies twisting and wrapping around each other. I tilt my head seeing Moonfyre lift her wing and show her face to me with her nose flaring.

""You just not hungry?"" She snorts and lifts her body causing a screech from Drogon who shifts around.

A glowing spot of the rock they were lying on is revealed and it seems they heated it up before laying on top of it. I am confused as it is not even cold today so they have no reason to try and heat the rocks to sleep.

""What's wrong with you two?"" I look at them weirdly as they try and shift their bodies around and Moonfyre's scales catch the light like a disco ball.

Within the heated stone is a small dug-out little hole that is illuminated by Moonfyre's reflective scales. Inside the hole are gem-like rocks that have their own luster to them that are nestled together in the heated stone. I stare blankly at the priceless 'things' that these two are seemingly slowly roasting inside of the hot stone.

""Are you two idiots?! You are going to cook them if you put them in molten stone!"" I push Drogons snout away as he sniffs the little eggs and I get closer.

I jump back realizing I am a fool and walking on super hot glowing stone, the bottom of my boot almost tearing off as I move back. I sigh as I look at the first-time parents who look concerned at their eggs and then at my melting boots and seem to realize what they have done. Moonfyre slams Drogons head back with a rough headbutt before nudging at her eggs.

She rolls them one at a time toward me and I smile hearing her trill almost like she is singing to her babies. Drogon rumbles at the abuse he is getting but doesn't move for fear of crushing his little eggs under his foot. I feel a pang of regret doing this without Danny but I had no clue this would be happening.

""Hold on, keep them on the slightly warm stone while I go get Danny! I will get something I prepared for this day as well so you don't need to worry!"" I count five eggs and thank my paranoid self for preparing ten egg warmers in advance.

More dragons are on the way and I can't help but feel a burning excitement as I sprint to go find Danny. People might be worried seeing me but hopefully, they don't associate it with me finding little easter eggs. I want to keep this a secret for as long as I can, I don't want the King to immediately try to take them.

I don't think he will, but he will for sure ask for at least a few of them to see if his heir can hatch one. I would prefer if they come here and try their luck rather than separate Moonfyre from her eggs. I also need to make sure there is one to put in my baby's cradle when Danny gives me a little silver-headed troublemaker.

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"What did they do this time?" Danny lets out a tired sigh as I speed walk with her to the dragon's den.

I interrupted her when she was ordering around some servants, she is taking full control of the household, and it's a monumental task. But she is strong-willed and won't back out once she starts on something and I have faith in her getting Harrenhal beat into shape.

"Just come on, you will not believe what they did." We approach the entrance and I can still hear Moonfyre singing to her eggs and a rumble from Drogon.

"What are they doing?" She asks with an amused tone as we head down the tunnel and I can hear her breath hitch as a lime-colored egg catches the light from Moonfyre.

""They laid eggs!"" Moonfyre rumbles loud enough to vibrate my teeth. ""Moonfyre laid eggs!"" Sweet trills once more fill the cave as her pleased blue eyes stare at her eggs.

Danny has wide eyes as she walks up and drops to her knees on the hard stone and picks up a sky-blue egg with white swirls. Moonfyre gives her some space to admire her own handiwork at birthing some beautiful eggs.

""They are warm."" She absent-mindedly mumbles and I roll my eyes, if the dragons had it their way they would be boiling hot.

""Tonight we will sneak back down here with the egg warmers and put them in them, we will have to do most of the work as far as that goes. Drogon and Moonfyre can take turns guarding them but they can't fill the warmers will coals. We don't want people to know we have living eggs, they will try to steal them as there are tons of dragon seed bastards all over the Kingdoms to try and claim them."" She nods as she sets the egg down and picks up the lime one with black streaks.

""We can have our sisters help, maybe one will even hatch for them if they come in here. Daeron will want to try and hatch some as well so we need to figure out how to deal with that."" I nod as I sit on the ground beside her and she looks at me with a dazzling smile as she holds the egg up.

""We can have him visit to 'check the progress' and let them try and hatch the eggs and see if it works for them."" She sets the egg down and grabs my hand as her face goes serious.

""Aerion I have been keeping something from you, I wanted to be sure before I said anything but the situation has changed."" I hesitantly grip her hands back and look into her eyes on the verge of tears.

""What is wrong?"" She shakes her head and doesn't speak as she places my hands on her belly.

I sit there dumbly until it clicks why she looks ready to cry as I rub my hand on her lower stomach.

""Nothing is wrong, but I have had some symptoms start and I didn't want to get too excited. I didn't know if I would ever get pregnant... I had doubts."" I scrunch up my nose in confusion until I remember she was cursed in her last life and she seemed to think it might have carried over with her.

I pull her into a hug and she returns a crushing one as both dragons bring their heads in on our sides and try and cheer her up. She sniffles against my shoulder as she lets out her grievances and I can't help but wonder how long she has kept this in. Likely since her rebirth, she probably thought she would go childless in this life as well.

So any signs she saw she probably was more scared than excited so I see why she didn't tell me right away.

""How long do you think you have... you know?"" She sits back but keeps her arms around my neck with her puffy lips looking delectable.

""I started feeling sore before the wedding so it could have been the very first time we coupled or I could have just been imagining it. I don't really know and I am still scared but seeing these eggs is making me hopeful. I know they're different but I feel hopeful seeing them have a clutch of eggs."" I kiss her tempting lips before pressing my forehead against hers.

""Well you did promise me as many kids as Alysanne gave Jaehaerys so I expect you to keep your word."" She shakes her head with a small smile quirking up.

Today took a sudden turn I was not expecting, but now that I know she might be pregnant I will need to be on the lookout. I have not even noticed any 'symptoms' she is not obviously throwing up or anything so I will just have to keep an open eye.

Little Targaryens and little dragons for them to play with seem to be on the horizon and I can't wait to see how things turn out.